


The Shape of You

by DarkJediQueen



Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [30]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Discussion of Torture, Feral Behavior, M/M, One-Shot, Sterek Bingo 2020, turning, werefox!stiles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:14:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24453475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkJediQueen/pseuds/DarkJediQueen
Summary: The shape you take reflects the person that you are.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Bingo 2020 [30]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726042
Comments: 20
Kudos: 456





	The Shape of You

**Author's Note:**

> **Year** : Future  
>  **Spoilers** : Everything  
>  **Notes** : This is a completed One-shot. There will be no more written in the universe.  
>  **Beta** : Grammarly

Derek wasn't sure what was going on, but there was word about strange noises happening in the Preserve at night, and he was the one that being sent out to check on things. He hated being the born werewolf on duty. It meant that he was the one sent out to take care of things that could be supernaturally related. Parrish was back at the edge of the last reported location of the sounds. Derek was glad that he was staying back. The man might be a Hellhound, but he wasn't as durable as Derek was. He liked working with him.

There was the sound of screeching, and Derek ducked as an owl flew at him from the top of a tree. He could smell its fear. There was something here that wasn't natural. He wasn't sure what it was, but he couldn't smell anything that was out of place.

There was a growl, and unnatural blue eyes flashed at him from low on the ground. Derek dropped down into a crouch and flash his red eyes at it. Derek wasn't sure what kind of shifter it was, but it was some kind. He looked at the animal and let his eyes stay red as he could see better like that. He stopped and frowned, backing away. Derek pulled out his cellphone and dialed his uncle. He never took his eyes off of the fox that was there.

"Derek, I thought you were working?" Peter asked. There was the sound of someone else talking.

"Is Chris with you?"

"And Noah. Why?"

"I have a werefox here in the Preserve. Put me on speaker."

"Sure." There was a few seconds, and then Derek heard the sound of more than one person moving around. He listened intently as he heard people dressing. It was late enough at night that Derek was pretty sure that all three of them had been in bed.

"Did I hear you right, Derek?" Chris asked.

"Yes. I have werefox. It smells exactly like a fox, there is no difference like there is with full shift werewolves. But I saw him flash his blue eyes at me. I don't know what he is doing here."

"What exactly has bee going on?" Chris asked.

"Just weird noises at the moment. The runners, joggers, and various people who go into the Preserve for exercise aren't finding any dead animals, are at least nothing more than normal. Just sounds at night. I wanted Derek to check it out since we've been peaceful for years."

"I'm going to put you on speaker and set my phone down." Derek did as he said, and he settled onto his ass on the ground, the phone beside him. "Hey, little guy, come here."

Derek didn't think that it was going to work, but he had learned that soft touches were sometimes a hell of a lot better than anger. The fox was staying under the bush that it was settled under. It was looking at him intently, though like it was trying to figure him out.

"What's he doing?" Peter asked.

"Just staring at me."

"What is the coloring?

"Dark, I mean, he looks like a fire. Like dark at the bottom and red in places."

"Werefoxes are rare, the rarest of shifters in the world. Unlike wolves, they don't breed out like we do. The child of a werewolf will be a wolf unless other genetics are in there. Werefoxes are slick and agile, and they can come from anywhere. His family has a werefox somewhere else in the genetics. They are not turned by a bite, but the bite unlocks what they are. It's the origin of the saying 'The shape you take reflects the person that you are,'" Peter said.

"They are tricksters but not like the origins give. They don't hurt what is theirs," Chris said.

"Can you trap him or something?" Noah asked.

The fox darted out a little and then reared back when he figured out what he had done. Derek wondered about that.

"I don't know. He's going to be fucking quick, so I don't think I can catch him. Parrish is at the car."

"I'll call him."

The fox moved again like it wasn't aware of what it was doing.

"Noah, talk again," Derek said.

"What?"

"Recite poetry, just talk." Derek stood up and backed up just a little away from the phone. The fox was looking at him.

"I don't know why I have to be the one to talk. Peter is the one that likes to hear himself talk most of the time. Can't get him to shut up, ever."

Derek watched as the fox kept on moving forward, getting closer to the phone the longer that Noah talked. The fox started to rub on his phone, and it was then that Derek moved. He shot forward, grabbing the fox by the nape of its neck and holding him up. It started to screech and make horrible noises while trying to scratch the fuck out of Derek.

"Get Parrish here with the cage," Derek yelled down and hoped that he could be heard. Whatever it was with Noah's voice, it calmed the fox down and made it less scared.

A minute later, Parrish came running with the cage that they had brought along just in case it was an animal with rabies.

"Should you be...can you get rabies?"

"No, shifters can't carry or transfer rabies. I've got a werefox here that's refusing to shift."

Parrish opened the cage and set it down so that once Derek dropped the fox in, the opening was at the top and could be slammed shut before it got out. Derek dropped it down in, barely getting his arms inside before he jerked it out. Parrish slammed the door shut, and the fox just sat in the bottom and glared at them, growling.

"How did you catch it?" Peter asked.

"It like Noah's voice. It was making it come to the phone, so I backed up, and then when he was rubbing his face on the phone, I caught him."

"Rubbing its face on the phone?" Chris asked.

"Yes, why?"

"That's not normal behavior. I wanna see this fox."

"Well, where exactly can we take it? I mean, it's fox sized. It can slip out of most of the holding areas where we stick suspects."

"Bring it out here to the house. We can stick him in the basement. We have that barrier that can block it from leaving. Make Chris be the one to watch it so he can get through the barrier if need be."

"I'll call Stiles. I know he's working a case and can't call back quickly, but I know he's in the state. Even if he can't call, he might be able to email information."

The fox growled at Noah's voice this time too. Derek wondered about what the hell was going on. Peter had always told him to stay away from werefoxes, and after meeting Kitsune and the Nogitsune, he figured it was some kind of prejudiced on them since they had weirder counterparts out there.

"Beacon Hills," Parrish said as he looked at the fox that looked like fire and shadow blended together.

"You got that right."

* * *

The fox didn't stop all the way out to the rebuilt Hale house. It successfully got the cage knocked down to where it was wedged between the front of the back seat and the cage that was blocking the front from the back. Derek couldn't hear it anymore, and he started to worry.

Peter, Noah, and Chris were all standing outside when they pulled up. They looked tired. They had all been dealing with little sleep because of a cranky baby that didn't want to sleep when it was supposed to. Derek looked at the window that showed that Cora was up with the twins again. He felt sorry for her. They were all tired, but at least they had jobs that took them away. Cora was a stay at home mom with the twins since they had a lot of issues being away from her for any length of time. It was okay because with the money from the insurance company, the money that had been awarded to them for the fact that the fire wasn't an accident like it had been claimed, none of them had to work, even though Derek liked to do it.

"Don't open the door. It went quiet after it knocked the cage down." Derek looked into the back window and groaned as he saw that the cage door was open. "It's loose."

"What?" Peter asked as he walked over to the other side just as Parrish got out of the front seat. "Fucking Christ."

Peter jumped back from the window, and Derek saw that the fox had jumped up into the window. Derek walked around the car to look at it looking at them. Its eyes were narrowed in on Noah, though.

"The shape you take reflects the person that you are," Derek said out loud.

"What?" Noah asked.

"When was the last time you heard from Stiles?"

"Before he started his last case three weeks ago. He didn't say what it was just that he was in San Francisco for it. Why?"

Derek looked at Peter and then at the fox again, and he saw the light go on in his eyes.

"Fucking Christ," Peter said again. He opened up the door, and as soon as he did, the fox shot out of it and climbed Noah, wrapping around his neck.

"You think that this is Stiles?" Noah asked.

The fox was wrapped around his neck like a weird scarf.

"Let's get inside and make sure that he doesn't escape."

"Yes, let's." Derek didn't want to have to chase the thing if it wasn't Stiles.

They all walked inside, and as soon as the door was shut, the fox took off, running up the stairs.

"It's up to you two to find him," Chris said. He was grinning as he looked at Derek and Peter.

"At least we know he's inside."

Derek walked up the stairs first, and he found that most of the doors were shut, except for the two main bedrooms, his and Peter's. Peter's was bigger, taking over the size of two bedrooms with a massive bathroom. Enough for the three of them to be happy inside. Derek's room wasn't as big by any measure, but where there was more space in Peter's room, Derek had a small library off of his. It was for the nights that he couldn't sleep. Derek really hoped the door to the library inside of his room was shut.

The sound of the fox's heart was thumping from somewhere inside of Derek's room. He slipped inside and shut the door. The heartbeat stayed the same. He looked around with human eyes to see if he could see the fox, but he couldn't, so he shifted his eyes to look next. He found that the fox was hiding under the bed because it was where the heartbeat was coming from. Derek got to his knees on the side of the bed, and when he looked over it as he dropped down, Derek stopped. There was a lump in the middle of the bed. He settled on his knees in a better position and lifted up the set of blankets. While Derek didn't make his bed every morning, there were never lumps. The fox was staring back at him, his eyes flaring blue. Then in the blink of an eye, they were red. Derek blinked his eyes, letting the Alpha eyes drop, but still, the fox's eyes were red.

Derek flipped the blanket over to uncover the fox as the bedroom door opened up. Noah was standing there with a phone in his hand. He walked inside and settled on the edge of the bed.

"Stiles has been classified as MIA. I called his phone again, and this time his Unit Chief answered. He was with his team when he was abducted, and they were able to follow him by tracking his phone, but by the time that they got to him, there were dead bodies all around. He couldn't give me much, but it was a ring of Hunters who were taking werewolves, were-anything really that could shift and selling them to be used in animal fighting videos. They found his clothes and his things, which was how they had his phone but they still haven't found him. There was some blood, but the trace took two days as the phone was off and then suddenly it was on. They treated it like they were going into a trap and then found them all dead and the cages empty."

"So the shifters all escaped, and Stiles was nowhere to be found."

Peter cleared his throat. "They have the bodies of all of the ones they were tracking. So they aren't sure where he is. They assume that he wandered off and was in a hospital somewhere. Then they found no John Does that fit his description." Peter shrugged when Noah glared at him for eavesdropping. "So it's possible that this could be him, and he was bitten not long after being taken, shifted to this form when the rest of the shifters were released, or hell released them himself."

"But we can't know for sure until he changes back, right?" Noah said.

"Yeah. I mean, your voice just could be soothing to him." Derek looked at the way that fox was curled in his bed like it didn't have a care in the world. Only Stiles could be like that. Though, there was no telling how there Stiles was if this was him. He could still be going on instinct.

"Why weren't you notified?"

"Stiles has it in his file that until his body his found, I'm not to be told about anything involving him being injured on a case. I kind of opened with asking if he had been turned. That's the only reason that they told me anything, I think. The team will head here. They are still hunting down the people who had been taken and making sure that they are fine. The Hunters kept records of who they took and from where. They have three more, and then they will head here. I offered up my house. The druid that they have on the team seems to think that he can figure out if this is Stiles or not." Noah reached out, and Derek tensed, ready to jerk his hand out to protect Noah if need be, but the fox did nothing at all.

Derek relaxed as the fox closed his eyes and just accepted the head pets. The scent of it changed to something content. At least until Noah started to go down the fox's flank. There was a sharp uptick in something, and it took Derek's brain a few seconds to figure out that it was a pain. The fox didn't bite, but he growled. Noah lifted his hand away, and there was blood. Noah looked at Derek. It was old and tacky.

"Why isn't he healing?"

"If it was made by another Alpha, those wounds take longer to heal, even on Alphas."

"Alpha. You said his eyes were blue." Peter reached out and turned Derek's head to face him.

"And they were, but when I found him in my bed, they were red. I have no clue what is going on."

"Peter and I will research werefoxes more. Noah, you need to get some sleep. I know it's going to be hard, but you do have work tomorrow, and you will be in court most of the day, you can't not go. Derek will take care of Stiles."

Noah nodded his head and pressed a kiss to his hand before laying it on the fox's head.

"I'll see about getting him cleaned up. I need to see how badly he is injured." Derek reached out, and he looked at his arm as he did. His arm had healed up just fine, which wouldn't have happened if the fox was an Alpha. Yet those eyes. Derek was confused as hell. He waited until the door was shut and they were alone before picking up the fox and settling him in the bathroom. The fox watched him shut the door and didn't move from where Derek had settled him on the counter beside the sink. There was a stack of towels there that he hadn't put up yet, and it made a perfect bed for the fox. Derek filled the bathtub with a few inches of warm to hot water and added a few things to the water to help with disinfection. He had them on hand for the humans in the Pack. Derek wasn't sure what exactly was going to happen when he put the fox into the water, but he really hoped that nothing horrible happened.

Derek set about getting things ready for washing out the fox's fur, and when he turned around to grab the fox, it wasn't there. He blinked a few times as if that would make him appear. Derek started to look around, finding the cabinet with towels open. He stood up out of his crouch and walked over to see if the fox had slipped in there just as the sound of splashing happened.

"What?" Derek looked to see the fox had settled down into the water. He was on his belly with his head under a little as well, his nose tipped up to where he could breathe. The rest of his body was submerged as much as he could get it wit as little water as there was in the bathtub. Already the water was starting to turn pink with blood. Derek grabbed the bottle of body wash that had a little bit of an antiseptic in it and poured some into his hand as he crouched at the side of the tub. He set the bottle down and rubbed the stuff between his hands to get a lather, and then he started to work on the fox's fur. The pink ran off more, and the suds turned red. It wasn't even pink, it was just red. Derek hated that there was so much. He wondered what had happened to the fox.

Derek knew that the chance that this wasn't Stiles was high. The supernatural was drawn to Beacon Hills. The shifter could have just been close enough to trip that trigger to head there for safety. Derek was gentle as he got deep into the fur to find where the cuts were. He didn't find any that were still bleeding, so getting rid of the tacky blood had to feel good. The fox started to almost purr as Derek poured water over its body to get rid of the suds. He drained the water and turned on the spigot again to get fresh water in to get the fox's legs and underbelly.

This was a person underneath because no wild animal would submit to this kind of treatment without a lot of bloodsheds. Derek pulled out the hairdryer that he had but had never used to make sure that the fox was nice and dry. He grabbed a towel to get the majority of the water off, but the fox just shook himself in the bathtub before jumping up to the toilet and then onto the counter. He trotted around the towels and stood where there was nothing on the counter, giving Derek a look of 'well come on and dry me.'

Derek was pretty sure now that it was Stiles. There was no one else who could look at him like that. Derek smiled at him and plugged in the hairdryer. He turned it on, and Stiles pranced around under it while Derek just moved it back and forth slightly. Stiles was a fluffball when it was done, but Derek just laughed. He pulled his phone from his pants pocket and took a picture. That had Stiles turning to look at him. His eyes flashed red just a second before he jumped up and put his paws on Derek's collarbones and licked at his face.

"Eww," Derek said as he pushed Stiles down. The fox was quick, though, and dodged the hands and then jumped up to wrap around Derek like he had Noah outside.

"Derek?" Noah called out.

Derek walked over to the bathroom door and opened it, stepping outside.

"I have you and Parrish called into searching the Preserve for the animal that is making noise. Tara is going to cover and make sure that no one questions it. I know you both are off-shift in two hours since you guys came in at a weird time to cover a patrol before this. How is he?"

"He's fine. The wounds are all healed, it was just tacky blood from them. I have no clue what made the wounds either."

"He looks good." Noah reached out to pet his head again, and Stiles just preened under the attention. "Why isn't he changing back?"

"There are a number of reasons. He might be having some issues finding his anchor, his humanity, or he just doesn't feel safe yet. Maybe the arrival of his team will help or just being here for a few days."

"Tonight is the full moon," Noah reminded Derek.

"I know. I can stay with him in the basement. The Pack will do fine without me. No one is having issues at the moment."

Stiles yawned and tucked his head down around Derek's neck again. His weight was a comfort at the moment. Stiles' FBI team was based out of Beacon City, which meant that he was home enough that Derek got to see him to keep him as his anchor. Derek had never told him that he was Derek's anchor. He had never seen a reason to. Now he wasn't so sure.

"Get some sleep. We will all be worn out tomorrow if we don't."

"Why are you still up?"

"Tara called about a noise disturbance and that she wanted to let me know that she was going to text Parrish about it. It was in a slightly different spot, closer to here. I said it was the same as before. I just hope it was us dealing with Stiles and not something else we are ignoring."

"No, I would have heard it if it was something else. I've kept my ears tuned to the Preserve, just to make sure." Derek had been filtering the sounds in and out of his ears ever since finding Stiles.

"Good. I'm going to go to bed before Peter hauls me away and tucks me in so that I can't get out." Noah smiled at Stiles and rubbed at his nose a little before heading to bed.

Derek wasn't shocked anymore about what didn't freak the Sheriff out. Son turned into a werefox? No big deal. Pixies tried to take over City Hall? Just another Tuesday. Derek walked toward the bed and rolled his shoulders. He didn't want to pick up Stiles and hurt him more if he was still healing on the inside.

Stiles grumbled but jumped down before trotting up the bed and dropping onto Derek's pillow. Stiles sniffed at it before looking up at Derek. There was an accusation in that look. Derek just kept looking at him. Derek knew what Stiles smelled, that the pillow was the one from the room that Stiles had in the house on the floor just above. Stiles liked the attic when Derek had built it, so he had settled his room up there. He mostly worked from it and slept, spending the rest of his time on the first floor or in Derek's room. After Stiles had stayed the night the last time instead of going to his apartment in Beacon City, Derek had swapped the pillows out.

Derek started to unbutton his shirt, the dirt and blood from Stiles were everywhere. Derek dropped the shirt into the hamper with the rest of his dirty uniforms before he went into the bathroom to change out the rest of the way. He did his nightly ritual and then slipped back into the bedroom. He left the night light on in the bathroom.

"If you gotta go, do it in the tub," Derek said with a glare at Stiles. He knew that Stiles could see him, even in the dark.

Derek crawled up the bed and got under the covers, taking the other pillow on that bed that he never used and dropping his head on it. Stiles moved over on his pillow to the edge, and Derek moved over so that he could feel the heat coming from Stiles. After a few minutes, Stiles wrapped his tail around Derek's neck, and Derek shifted to where he could wrap an arm around Stiles.

* * *

Derek felt the tug on his pants and looked down to see Stiles trying to climb up his pants.

"Foxes don't get bacon."

The look of utter horror on Stiles' face was enough that Derek nearly relented, but he didn't. He just shook his leg, and Stiles slid down it.

Noah was laughing from where he was eating his breakfast. Derek had cooked his first since he had to head to court. Chris and Peter were sleeping in. Derek really wished that he could have, but Stiles had woken him up by literally jumping up and down on his chest.

"How do you think the day is going to go?" Noah asked.

"I have no clue. I'm off, which is good, but I have no clue what mischief Stiles is going to get into."

"Mischief, you know before he named himself Stiles, his nickname was Mischief. It was as close as he could get to saying his name."

Stiles started to chitter, and even Derek understood that Stiles didn't want Noah saying his name.

"What? You think I don't know your name?" Derek asked as he flipped the pancake on the griddle before crouching down. He bopped Stiles on the nose. "Mieczysław."

Stiles reared back with a shocked look on his face, and he took off running. Derek heard him make it up the stairs, and a door creaked.

"How in the world did you find that out?"

"He actually told me. He was waking up from a nightmare after the Nogitsune, and I heard him muttering that he was Mieczysław Genim Stilinski. He was counting his fingers while doing it and just kept on saying it over and over again. I never told him that I knew. I don't think he remembers much of the night vigils that Peter and I took to make sure that he didn't sleepwalk again during all of that and even after."

The sound of feet on the floor told Derek that someone else was awake. It wasn't until they headed this way that he knew it was Peter. Derek set about getting him a cup of coffee. Peter appeared in the kitchen, holding Stiles in the crooks of his arms.

"What the fuck did you do to him?" Peter asked.

"What do you mean?"

"He started to jump on my chest, chittering away the entire time. It was like he was bitching about something."

"He didn't like that I knew his real name is all. I'm sure he was telling you to kick my ass or something." Derek stuck his tongue out at Stiles, and the little shit just stuck his out as well. Well, if there was any doubt about who the fox was, it was gone in that moment.

"Dear God, why did I ever want to turn him?" Peter asked as he looked down at him.

Stiles whipped his head around and looked at him, frowning before he surged up and licked up the side of Peter's cheek before he jumped down onto the counter where his father was eating. Noah narrowed his eyes at him.

"You are the one that said he would make a fantastic wolf...I guess you would have been SOL on that one." Noah pointed his fork at Peter.

"Eh, he does make a fantastic fox." Peter glared at him as he walked over to grab his cup of coffee.

It sounded like Chris was awake as well as Derek made him a cup and pulled the food from the oven where it was staying warm.

"I've gotta go." Noah pushed his plate over toward Derek before walking around the island to press a kiss to Peter's cheek. Chris came down the stairs just as Noah was walking toward them. Derek knew that their relationship was very private, and even the Pack respected that, but it always made him feel good when he saw them doing things like this. That the world wasn't too fucked up for happiness, even just sparse moments of it.

"Tomorrow, Derek. Keep that thing in your room."

"He broke out," Noah said.

"What?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, he got out even though my door was shut and then made it into your guy's room as Noah was waking up." Derek just smiled at Chris before turning back to take the pancake off the griddle. He added it to the stack that was on his plate as there was enough of the rest for Peter and Chris. He added bacon to his plate as well as hash browns. "Also, no bacon for the little shit. He doesn't get it until he turns back to human."

Derek turned around in time to see Peter had already given him a strip of bacon. Noah was laughing, and Chris was just starting to.

"You know...you could at least try and be an adult."

"I didn't know!" Peter said.

Derek grumbled as he sat down at the island at his usual spot. Stiles jumped from Peter's arms and came over to sit beside him, looking at his plate. Derek sighed and got up to grab a small plate and dish out some of each thing for him. He ripped up a pancake into small bites. He knew well that human food wasn't going to bother Stiles. It never did any shifter when they were in full shift form. Derek laughed as Stiles made grabby motions when he got close. Derek set the plate down and was glared at when there was only one strip of bacon on it.

"Finish that, and you'll get more."

Derek looked up t see that Peter was recording this. Derek flipped him off, which had Stiles looking. Stiles threw w bit of pancake at him, and all that Peter did was laugh.

"Don't even you would do the same thing and share it in the Pack chat group. Just be lucky I am just sending this to your father."

Stiles stuck his tongue out again.

"Save me from this," Chris said as he walked over to get some food.

It quieted down with all of them eating. Derek shared his coffee with Stiles, which Derek wasn't sure was a good idea, but the little shit had already snuck into it by the time that Derek noticed.

"When is the rest of the Pack arriving?" Peter asked.

"Randomly throughout the day. Parrish already left to go home and get changed as well as drop off the cruiser. I'll head in and get my car later. I figured that one of you could drop me off before heading to get the meat for the cookout."

"I'm not sure you should take him anywhere with you."

"Oh, I have a plan for that." Derek looked at Stiles, who looked up at him. His eyes narrowed, and Derek could just see the wheels in his head turning. Derek grinned and turned back to eat again.

* * *

"Oh my GOD! He's adorable," Erica said as she rushed up to him. "When did you get a pet fox?"

"About the time I told two idiots off for trespassing on private property." Derek watched as Stiles scrambled behind him, tugging on the leash. Derek kept a hold of it. He had snuck attack the harness onto him. It had been left from when Lydia had brought her dog over one night. Gucci had not been a fan but at least had been good about being in it. Stiles had taken off and had run up the side of a bookcase and hadn't come down until Derek started to tip it. The leash had been a little harder as Stiles had chewed through the first, so Derek had brought out the leather one. Derek also threatened to shave him if he chewed through it. Stiles had pouted the entire trip to his car. Now they were outside of the pet store so that he could get another leash and a harness that Stiles would like. Derek had a collar and leash for his wolf when he was stuck in the form when he was injured. They had done that once already.

"You told Stiles and me off for being on your property years ago. Who else have you told?" Scott asked. He looked down at Stiles, who was peeking around Derek's legs like he hoped that Scott and Erica had left.

"No one."

"Gotcha." Scott nodded his head and then kind of froze.

Derek really wanted to think that he was smarter than that, but he really wasn't sometimes. He was lovable, and that was about his best-redeeming quality.

"That's Stiles?" Erica asked.

"I'm about ninety-nine percent sure. He's a shifter and that I am one hundred percent on. I'm sure that he'll shift back when he's ready."

"What happened?"

"I don't have the whole story from his team yet. I'm not even sure they can tell us the whole story, legally. He made it all the way here, though, and we found him in the Preserve. Another point besides the looks that he gives that tell me it's him."

Scott crouched down, and Stiles chittered at him. Derek laughed as claws raked down the side of Scott's hand when it got too close. Scott pulled his hand back, and he looked like he wanted to suck on it but didn't.

"Scott, you aren't healing," Derek said.

"What?" Scott looked at his hand. The skin wasn't knitting back together at all, it was still bleeding pretty freely.

"So...I guess the red eyes were right." Derek looked down at Stiles and saw that he was looking at his clawed hand with a little bit of fear in his eyes. He started to climb Derek's legs, and when he got high enough, Derek picked him up. Stiles chittered again, and Scott looked at him.

"Hey, it's fine, buddy. I scared you. You've been around Derek, and now there are strange people. It's fine. Wounds from Alphas heal slower. It's fine." Scott smiled at Stiles. "So, what are you getting?"

"A better harness this one is a little tight on him with the fur and a different leash. I promised him superheroes as long as he didn't chew through it like he did the first."

"I wondered why you were using the leash for your wolf form."

"So what about tonight?"

"I'll stay inside with him if he doesn't want to be out and about. He was pretty bloody when I found him, so it was from an attack after he shifted to this form the first time or something in the Preserve attacked him. He might not want to be out in that again. I'm not going to make him. I have no clue what tonight is going to be like for him."

"So you think that he hasn't found his anchor yet, don't you?"

"It's that or his healing is taking a while to heal him on the inside. Or he's being a stubborn shit and not wanting to shift back. It's one of a million things. It's Stiles. He could be just not wanting to shift back to fuck with me."

"Well, it's Stiles. Who knows what he is thinking. His coloring is beautiful, though," Erica said. She didn't reach out to touch at all, having learned from Scott.

"Peter and Chris are picking up the food for dinner tonight. You guys can head over whenever you want."

"I'm just picking up a few things for the office, and then I'll head over. We can head out into the Preserve where you found him and see if we can track him." Scott was grinning at Stiles and held out his hand again. Stiles reached out a curled paw and fist-bumped him.

"Yeah, that's Stiles, all right," Erica said with a laugh.

"You okay if I hang with you, Alpha My Alpha?" Erica asked.

"Sure. I've got the Camaro with me, but there is room. Stiles can ride in the back."

The store's trip took little time as Derek found a matching harness and leash set with Marvel and another with DC characters on it. He made sure that both fit him before letting him wear the Marvel one out of the store. The lady at the resister was pleased to see that Derek was taking his ownership seriously. Derek explained that he had an injury to his leg that didn't allow him to be in the wild anymore, and he had been part of the rehabilitation team on him. It was how all of the Pack that could do the full shift was explained when seen in public. Malia was the only one that never did it in public as coyotes were harder. Derek could pass as a half-dog/half-wolf breed, and so couldn't Peter.

It was good to have a few things as accidents happened. Peter had gone through three collars so far when he had to shift when out and about.

Scott was already at the house when Derek and Erica got there. Chris had the chicken marinating in the sauce he had made up that morning before heading out to do errands with Peter.

"How is he doing?" Peter asked when he saw Stiles wrapped around Derek's neck again.

"He clawed Scott, and it didn't heal," Derek said.

"It's healed now, but yeah, that took a while." Scott showed his hand.

"But you were not scratched all that long when he ripped your arm to shreds," Peter said.

"Nope."

"Huh." Peter looked around and then sighed. "Christopher, we have research to do!"

"What?" Scott asked.

"When I first saw him, he had blue eyes and then red. Now he's scratching you, and it's not healing, but I am fine."

"You've never talked about werefoxes before. I mean we've got werejaguars and coyotes. That jaguar was fucking fun. She was rather playful," Erica said with a grin on her face. She reached out and ruffled Stiles' tail. Stiles curled it up to where it was pressed to his body. He didn't seem to like anyone, but Derek and Noah touching him. He had deigned to let Peter carry him downstairs and used him as protection and a way to get bacon but hadn't let him touch him since.

"Werefoxes are the kind of stories that Kanimas were talked about before. There are myths about every single kind of animal out there having a shifter counterpart. Ravens and foxes are the ones that have little basis in reality. I mean, I've met one who is an owl. Even he's never met a fox. Peter always told me to never approach a shifter that I thought was a fox. I assumed that it was some bastardization of the Kitsune myth. Until now."

"AHA!" Peter yelled before he came running down the stairs. He was holding a book in his hand that he dropped in front of where Stile was. A cloud of dust came off of it, and Stiles sneezed.

"Aww," Erica said, and she clutched her heart.

"You should see him sticking his tongue out. I have a video." Peter looked at Erica and then back down at Stiles. "You are a mischievous little shit. So we know blue eyes are either intense guilt or actually killing an innocent. We know that Stiles felt a lot of guilt for what happened with the Nogitsune. So blue eyes. He could also flash Beta eyes at you if he wanted. It seems that werefoxes can shift their eyes between all three at will. Never anything higher than what they want. but Red is only if they are an actual Alpha."

"How did he get the Alpha spark?" Derek asked.

"You. Werefoxes take on their mate's eyes as well, so if paired with an Alpha for a mate."

"What?"

"There is also the fact that werefoxes can't hurt their mates. That's why his claws didn't do damage to you, and you healed up like normal."

"You are telling me that Stiles is my mate?" Derek hoped that his words held enough shock in them that no one heard the lie. He looked at Stiles to see that Stiles didn't. Stiles was glaring at him. He stood up from where he had been curled up and jumped off the side of the island before heading up the stairs.

"What did you do?" Scott asked as he looked at Peter.

"I didn't do anything. It's Derek lying. How long have you known?" Peter asked.

"Years but I wasn't ready for a long time then when I was ready, he was in college and then the FBI. We've never really settled down and talked all that much. I was waiting for something to happen. I guess I got that thing." Derek looked up where he could hear Stiles' heartbeat. It was soft, and Derek knew that he was hiding somewhere in Derek's room. Probably under pillows. "I'm going to go talk to him. You guys head out and see what you can find. Parrish just pulled up, and he knows where I found Stiles."

Derek rushed up the stairs, and he found the pillow that Derek had used the night before pushed up and he knew Stiles was under it. He reached under to see what part of him was close, and Stiles bit him. Derek endured the bite and used it to pull Stiles out from under.

"Hey, hey. It's okay," Derek said as he pulled Stiles into his lap. Stiles gripped his hand harder, and Derek just petted him with his other hand. After a few minutes, the vice that was Stiles' mouth let go, and he licked at the wounds. Derek watched as they healed even quicker than normally. They stayed like that until it was time for them to head outside. Stiles stayed in Derek's arms as the rest of the Pack started to get the party going. Derek always watched more than take part in this section of what was going on. When the moon was full, and things were better, then Derek was there.

Chris and Noah manned the food while the Betas got ready to head out and have fun playing tag in the trees. It wasn't something that Derek's family had done, but this fit for them. It was nice, really listening to them.

Stiles tugged on Derek's pants leg as he stayed at the edge of the trees. Derek knew what Stiles wanted, but he wasn't ready for that yet. He wasn't ready to give up his human body for the night. The moon was tugging at him, but there wasn't that need yet. Stiles did a mock howl, and the Betas all turned back and came running. Derek glared at Stiles before the little shit took off into the trees. Derek stripped off his shirt and worked on his pants before Scott got too close. Allison was right there with them, dressed in workout clothes as she usually wore when she was playing with them.

Derek dropped to his hands and knees, his body changing almost without his conscious thought of it. As soon as he was settled into his wolf body, he took off after Stiles, who darted this way and that before taking off as fast as he could. Derek gave chase, the thrill of it in his bones.

He knew exactly what he was doing as he chased Stiles. Derek knew precisely what Stiles wanted with this. The full moon chase was old as dirt, even for Shifters. It was old, but it was good. It was the first step in the mating ritual that would span an entire year. It would allow them to grow together. Derek hadn't known that Stiles knew about it, but he shouldn't have been shocked. Stiles researched everything like it was going out of style.

Derek caught the scent of Stiles, the deeper scent of human him, and he put on another burst of speed. He chased him until he caught him, his lithe fox body tumbling down a small incline when Derek broadsided him. When he landed at the bottom, he was human and naked. Derek covered his body with his own, flesh to flesh as he kissed him. It wasn't going to go further than that, but the kiss was the full start of the ritual. The prize for catching Stiles.

Derek might have been the one to catch him, but Stiles had so long ago caught him.

"No matter who you are, no matter what you are. I love you, Stiles. No matter the shape."

"I love you, too," Stiles said, his voice scratchy from disuse. It made Derek smile and duck down for more kisses. The Betas would catch them at some point, and they would don their fur again and chase the moon as it moved through the sky, but for now, Derek just wanted this.

# The End

**Author's Note:**

> I write fanfiction for fun. It's a hobby and a stress relief. I refuse to stress over my writing. What you see is what you get. Errors, plot holes, and all. Thank you for reading my story!
> 
> I can be found on MeWe [here](https://mewe.com/i/beccaqueen1), join me there and we can discuss my fics and whatnot.


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